Six Days in Fallujah: A documentary game?

It was unsettling to watch Six Days in Fallujah, Atomic Games’ upcoming shooter based on the battle in the Iraq War. I was in a darkened room in Ruby Skye, a club in San Francisco, and I sat transfixed with the rest of games journalists, staring at what could be one of the more important title for 2010.

I doubt many of us have fire a real gun, and I have a suspicion that even fewer of us have set foot in a real war zone. Yet, when we play as soldiers in Call of Dutyor Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, we go around pretending to know what to do in a life or death situation. There’s a disconnect there because we know what we’re playing isn’t real.

What Six Days of Fallujah presented as the trailer and introduction flashed on the screen is something that is strikingly different. With the help of 47 Marines who fought in the Second Battle of Fallujah, it tries to portray an actual event in which real people have died in excruciatingly accurate detail.

“After they got back from Fallujah, these Marines asked us to create a video game to tell the world about their experiences,” said Peter Tamte, the president “Every military shooter has promised authenticity, but never before has any video game offered their level of insight into an actual battle. Marines have given us their battle maps and plans they took with them into Fallujah, their after action reports, thousands of photographs and hours video.

“Scenarios of the game are recreations of actual firefights mapped out for us by Marines who were actually there. Each location is recreated from photos and satellite imagery and we programmed our AI with the same tactics that the Marines actually used in Fallujah.”

It’s a realism that makes some people uncomfortable and has been a a lightning rod for criticism. People on the right and left, veterans and peace activists have an opinion on it. It’s being defended and panned; praised and excoriated and I’m not surprised this is happening.

What do you expect when you combine video games (potentially controversial) with the Iraq War (explosively controversial)? It’s like throwing dynamite into a raging inferno.
But the controversy is a smokescreen for what’s really important about Six Days in Fallujah. Depending on how Atomic Games treats the subject matter it can be one of the few mature games out there. It can be a game that accomplishes something outside of the realm of silly fun and power fantasies and lets players experience a wider palette of emotion. The uncomfortable feeling about whether this is the right game at the right moment is proof of that.

“Today, I believe video games are one of if not the most important media to convey stories like the Battle of Fallujah, especially educating, because when a person can interact and actually participate, they might get a deeper understand and appreciation for historical events,” said Sgt. Michael Ergo, an Iraq War veteran and supporter of the game.

As for the game itself, Atomic Games, which makes training simulations for the Marine Corps, built their own engine from scratch that lets players and enemies destroy cover or blast walls. Like on the battlefield, nothing is really concrete.

Pillars that act as cover can be destroyed with gun fire. In another place, if players are fighting insurgents on the street and the foes run into a house, players don’t just follow them in through the doorway. That’ll probably get them killed. What they do is blow a hole in the house and flush them out to the kill zone the squad has set up in the road.

The realism creates new gameplay elements organically. It’s also forcing the developer to create smarter AI that will have to react to a constantly changing environment.

The only problem I had with Six Days in Fallujah was the dialogue between the soldiers, which sounded too much like it came fromGears of War 2. I can’t imagine Marines yelling “Get some” as gun fire lights up around them.

It’s a small thing, but when a studio is dealing with a subject this touchy and controversial, any missteps will be magnified. The only way I imagine this game working is if they have the Marines tell the story in their own voice. They have to treat this almost like a documentary and maybe let each Marine introduce a level and get the after report of what happened as players retrace the Marine’s steps through the battle.

With Six Days in Fallujah, Atomic Games is taking a hell of a risk. It’s walking a very fine line of taste, but if they succeed, they could redefine the war genre and further refine video games as an art form. It all depends on the execution; let’s hope they get it right.